We recently saw the release of new, unofficial
Google Progressive Web Apps for Windows 10 in the Microsoft
Store from a third-party developer. The apps now appear to
have been taken offline because these apps were made by a
third-party developer.
The listing of the apps are still live on Microsoft Store but
you can no longer download them. The seven apps were published
by a developer called 11K Studios Interactive, so they don’t
have the official backing of Google. The apps were web wrappers
that provide access to each service with a banner
advertisement.
While there doesn’t appear to be an official reason but it’s
likely that Microsoft removed them due to some sort of quality
control initiative or it could be a request from Google itself.
For a record, the developer 11K Studios brought seven Google
web apps to the Store, including Photos, Drive, Maps, Docs,
Sheets, YouTube Gaming, and Slides. While most of them are
gone, Docs and Sheets are still available for download.
PWA is basically a web wrapper of the service that kind of work
like mobile-optimized websites. It has additional functionality
such as notifications and other native APIs. A well designed
PWA can have the same functionality and experience as a
traditional app. One example of a new PWA is the Twitter
app which works like a charm on Windows 10 devices.
Microsoft is betting big on Progressive Web Apps
Microsoft is exploring ways to improve the adoption of PWA apps
on Windows 10. Numerous companies like Twitter and Uber are
also developing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) due to the fact
that it can run on a variety of devices including Windows
10 and Android.
